Driving box



y 13,1926. 11,592,158 M. H. ROBERTS DRIVING BOX Filed p 9 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR 4 f gwmw 5 A TTORNE Y5 M. H. ROBERTS DRIVING BOX Filed Sept. 9. 1924 2 Sheets-sheet 2,

INVENTOR Md? MAM AT ORNEYJ 20 in Fig. 1.

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asaaita MONTAGUE H. ROBERTS, F ENGLEWOOD,

RAILWAY SUPPLY GOMPA'NY, OF NEW YORK,

WARE.

NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 FRANKLIN DRIVING BOX.

Application flled september a, 1924.. Serial no. 736,678.

My invention relates to boxes suitable, especially, for the driving wheels of locomotives and is concerned with a type of box wherein a bearing or crown structure separate from the rest of the box is removably secured therein. I aim to improve the behavior of such boxes in service by preventing pounding of the box in its guides and consequent loosening of the bearing structure ,in the box. How this and other advantages may be realized through my invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side view of a locomotive driving box and associated parts conveniently embodying my invention, the

various parts being shown in section to reveal the construction more clearly.

Fig. 2- shows a vertical section through the box, taken as indicated by the line 2-2 Fig. 3 is in part a vertical section and in part a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1,the section being taken as indicated by the line 3-3 in that figure.

a box structure 10 having at its sides or limbs 11 and 12 the usual flanges 13, providing grooves. The pedestal jaws 14 of the 10- comotive frame engage in these grooves and serve as guide-ways for up and down movement of the whole journal box. The box structure 10 is of a general yoke or U shape, with the Uerect (right side up) about the axle15, and its transverse member 16 a short distance'beneath the axle. The structure 10 is supported by being suspended (as it were) from the separate crown bearing enerally and comprehensively designate as 17, which rests on the axle 15 between the side members 11, 12. In the present instance, thebearing 17 comprises two parts 18 and 19, divided along a cylindrical surface concentric with the axle 15, and provided with accurately interfitting engagement means (Figs. 1 and 2) consisting of alow ridge 18 on the lower part 18 and a corresponding shallow groove 19 in the upper part 19. Preferably, the part 18 is of brass or other bearing metal and the part 19 of more rigid material, such as steel. A bottomless sheet metal lubricator device or cellar 20 (shown as of the general Elvin type) is arranged in the box structure 10 beneath the axle 15, and

vehicle journal 'Ridges 24,25 on the The box shown in the drawings comprisesits follower plate 21 is urged upward toward the axle by a spiral compression spring 22 beneath it that is partly accommodated in a recess 23 in the member 16. box sides 11, 12 reduce the friction when the cellar 20 is inserted or removed. At'one end, the follower plate 21 has a downward projecting indicator rod 26 that normally lies in a vertical slot in the transverse member 16. The cellar 20 may be secured in place by means of a horizontal retainer bar or rod 27 extending through engagement means in the form of apertured lugs 28, 28 (on the members 11-, 12) across the yoke opening at the inner end of the box 10, and it is secured inplace by one or more keys 29.

Shoulders 30 extend inward from either side 11, 12 of the box structure 10 at its upper end, and the bearing 17 has correspond-' ing shoulders 31 which cooperate with the shoulders 30 in the support of the box structure 10 by the bearing 17. The bearin 17 is of such general width as to fit (snug y but not tightly) between the sides 11, 12 below the shoulder.30, while its upper portion is of such reduced width as'to fit (snugly but not tightly) in the opening between the shoulders 30: i. e. the bearing corresponds substantially to the internal width of the box 10. At the lower end of the bearing 17, on either side, is a central downward projecting lug 32 adapted to engage and fit snugly in a recess 33 1n the ridge 24 on the corresponding side member of the box structure 10, so-as to prevent movement of the hearing 17 in the box structure lengthwise of the axle 15. Lubricant from the cellar 20 and the axle 15 is supplied to the outer surfaces N. Y., A CORPORATION DELA- of the box 10 (to lubricate its up and down movement) through the clearances between the lower surfaces of the lugs 32 and the bottoms of the recesses 33, and through corresponding holes 34; .in the box sides. Removable tapering pins or key members 35 are normally engaged between the shoulders 30, 31 to wedge the bearing 17 "fast in the box structure 10 and maintain the lower ends of the bearing firmly seated'against the shoulders formed by the upper sides of the ridges 24, with the lugs 32 engaged inpthe recesses 33-. The adjacent faces of the shoulders 30, 31 are concave, and the opposite sides or the wedges 35 are correspondingly convex,

and the faces of the shoulders 31 are inclined in correspondence with the taper of the wedges, as shown. The wedges 35 may be owerfully forced home and held in place y tightening up nuts 36 on bolts 37 that ex tend through laterally projecting apertured lugs 38 on the ends of the wedges. The heads 39 of the bolts 37 lie in under-cut recesses at the inner ends of grooves in the side members 11, 12 of the box structure 10.

The load or weight of the locomotive may be transmitted to the bearing 17 in various ways: in the present instance, it is freely received by the bearing 17, independently of the box structure 10, through the opening between the shoulders 30, 30 of the latter. As shown in Fig. 2, the bearing 17 has recesses 42, 42 in its upper side for receiving corresponding projections. The box structure 10, therefore, is entirely unloaded as respects the vehicle weight, but engages the vehicle frame and the bearing 17, keeps the bearing 17 in position, and receives and transmits to the frame the side thrust from the wheel. The bearing 17 also transmits the horizontal fore and aft thrust from the journal or shaft 15 to the locomotive frame 14 through the box structure 10, as well as stresses due to the tendency of the bearing to turn with the shaft. Such stresses,

however, are transmitted separately and independently of the weight (at right angles thereto), so that the weight .has no component tending to spread the box sides.

The outer faces 43, 44 of the box structure 10 and the bearin 17 are flush with one another, and aflorr? lateral bearing surfaces for engaging the driver wheel hub (not shown) and takin the side or end thrust from the wheel. gince this bearing surface is on both of the parts 10 and 17 and extends all the way around the opening for the shaft 15, it is of greater area than heretofore possible in standard ractioe, so that the pressure is more wide y distributed, and the wear will be more uniform and not be so great. The thrust bearing surfaces 43, 44 are kept accuratel in alignment by the engagement of the ugs 32 in the recesses 33 and by the wedges 35. These bearing surfaces 43, 44 may consist of Babbitt facings or linings on the parts 10 and 17, as shown. It will be seen that in order to remove the crown bearing 17 from the journal box 10, it is ,only necessary to relieve the bearing of the sprin tension and lift the sprin saddle (not s own) out of en agement w1th its recesses 42 42, withdraw t e wedges 35, and drop the box sufficiently to disengage the bearin 17 therefrom at 32, 33.. Having been disengaged from the box 10 by vertical displacement therein as just described, the bearing 17 may be removed from the box by simply moving the bearing lengthwise of the axle 15. When the box structure 10 is to be removed from the locomotive frame in order that its hub face 43 maybe relined (or for any other reason), it is only necessary to remove the bearing 17 as just described, drop the frame pedestal binder 46 so as to open the lower ends of the 'guideways 14, and allow the box structure 10 to slide or drop down from the axle 15,-the opening between the shoulders 30, 30 at the upper end of the box structure being of width suflicient to pass the shaft readil though of less width than'the bearing 1 as a whole. No drop-pit crane is required for removal of any or all the bearing parts, as just described; neither is it necessary to drop the wheels or to lift the locomotive as a whole from its frame for such purposes.

In the light of this explanation of the general box construction here illustrated, the following description of the features with which my present invention is more especially concerned will be easily understood.

In order to keep the box 10 always tight in the pedestal jaws 14, 14 and prevent loosening of the bearing 17 in the box by pounding of the latter in the jaws, an automatic tightening device may be provided, here shown as comprising an adjustable wedge 50 adjacent the inclined face of one of the jaws 14 and a floating wedge 51 between said wedge 50 and the corresponding side of the box 10. The wedge 50 has a stem or bolt 52 which extends down through a hole 53 in the pedestal frame binder 54. The spring casing 55 is rotatably mounted in a double armed bracket 56 secured to said binder 54. Helical compression springs 57, 57 act be tween the bottom of the casing 55 and an abutment nut 58 threaded on the bolt 52, and having ears or lugs 59 engaged in corresponding slots in the casing 55. This automatic wedge device, it will be seen, corresponds in construction substantially to that shown in U. S. Patent No. 1,492,824, granted May 6th, 1924, to William E. Woodard and Frederick W. Martin.

When the locomotive frame and the jaws 14, 14 start to move downward relatively to the box 10, the inclined surface of the wedge 50 moves away from the abutting inclined surface of the wedge 51, thus relieving the tightness slightly and obviating any tendency for'the box to stick. When the jaws 14, 14 arise again, a reverse action takes place. The exact de cc of tightness generally maintained by t e wedges 50, 51 is determined by the tension of the springs 57 which may be adjusted by rotating the cas ing 55 by its reduced lower hexagonal end, so as to screw the abutment 59 up or down on the bolt 52.

It will be seen that the action of the auto matic ti htening device prevents loosening or poun 'ng of the box 10 in the jaws 14, 14,

eeaiee and efiectually obviates any tendency for the bearing 17 to become loose in the box, b

or to hammer and distort the latter or its part 18. This is particularly important in cases where the load of the vehicle weight is transmitted to the bearing 17 independently of the box proper (as in the present instance) so that the bearing 17 is held rigidly in position on the shaft and cannot readily give with any slight pounding mo tion of; the box 10 in the aws 141, 1 4. With such independent fixity of the bearing 17, hammering or pounding between it and the box 10 would otherwise tend to be severe and troublesome.

I claim: 7

1. The combination with box guides, a

eke-shaped box open at its top, and an axle bearing removably secured in said box, of a self-tightening wedge device for prevent ing pounding of the box in the guides and consequent loosening of the bearing'in the and an axle bearing removably secured in said box reoeivin the load of the vehicle weight independent y of the latter, of a self-ti htening wedge device for preventing poun ing of the box in the guides and consequent loosening of the hearing in the box; 1

3. The combination with box yoke-shaped box open at its top pair of shoulders on its side, and an axle bearing wedged between said shoulders, of a self-tightening wedge device for preventing pounding of the box in the ldes and consequent loosening of the bearing in the box.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name. 7

' MONTAGUE H. ROBERTS.

box in said guides,

2. The combination with box guides, a i

guides, a

avlng a 

